Single Malt Rare Malts Natural Cask Strength 20YO
⏳ Drikkevindue
As a highly stable, matured distilled spirit, it does not expire and can be enjoyed over many decades; once opened, it is best consumed within 1 to 2 years to preserve its intricate aromatic profile.
🍽️ Mad & Vin-match
Smoked wild salmon, mature blue cheese, dark chocolate
✨ Tekniske specifikationer
Port Ellen's 'Rare Malts Selection' 20 Year Old is a legendary artifact from Islay's lost silent distillery. Distilled before the distillery's closure in 1983, this natural cask-strength expression captures the quintessential, old-school Islay character. Port Ellen was renowned for its unique water source from the Connel Loch and its distinctive peat profile, which was less medicinal and more oily, maritime, and soot-driven than its neighbors. The Rare Malts Selection, launched by United Distillers in the 1990s, aimed to showcase rare, cask-strength single malts from closed or highly sought-after distilleries. This 20-year-old bottling is revered for its complex interplay of intense peat smoke, damp leather, sea spray, and a surprising, waxy citrus sweetness that develops beautifully with a splash of water. It stands as a monument to a bygone era of Scotch whisky production.
🍾 Om vinhuset / producenten
Port Ellen blev grundlagt i 1825 af Alexander Ker Mackay og tog for alvor form under ledelse af John Ramsay. I dag fremstår destilleriet som et af de mest mytiske navne inden for skotsk whisky. Beliggenheden på Islays sydkyst, det barske kystklima og det bløde kildevand fra Loch Leorin har historisk set givet destillatet en umiskendelig maritim saltholdighed, tør tørverøg og en raffineret, olieret tekstur. Destilleriet blev midlertidigt lukket i 1930 og gennemgik en omfattende modernisering inden genåbningen i 1967, hvorefter det lukkede på ny i 1983 under den store krise i whiskybranchen. Gennem de efterfølgende fire årtiers tavshed modnede de tilbageværende fade – overvejende refill-egetræsfade – og frembragte aftapninger, der i dag hyldes for deres delikate citrusnoter, mineralske sod og afbalancerede kystnære kompleksitet. I 2024 genåbnede ejeren Diageo officielt destilleriet. Med de nye 'Phoenix Stills' har man nøje genskabt de oprindelige kobberkedlers geometri, samtidig med at innovative eksperimental-kedler skal sikre den historiske profil og samtidig udforske moderne single malt-produktion.